New York City art tours by New York artist, Jami Taback

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The Written Word

"Nothing better than the real thing: Authenticity in the viewing of art"
by Jami Taback

There is something special about experiencing art from the inside-out. This repeat performance that a work of art can produce out of our emotions is what keeps us interested in the art. We are able to view art, summon up specific emotions at will, and feel comfort in them.

This also happens when we listen to the spoken word, music, and a good book which can be read again and again. These experiences with emotions are experienced over and over each time a particular art comes before us.

This confirmation of emotions, upon viewing art, validates our inner selves, our souls. When shared with others, it holds greater authenticity - and is known as "communion". That it can occur again and again throughout the centuries is the magic and mystery all at once.

The artist drew on emotions at the conception of the work of art. It is part of the collective unconscious of the viewer as well as the artist that creates the climate in which we can explore these impacts. First we look at a painting, for instance, and then we find a response has been drawn from us, willing or not, liking or disliking the work. Our senses have been engaged and we realise we have received a gift from the artist - that of authenticity.

In turn the painting reveals more with each viewing and the rapport between the viewer and the work of art continues. The work can appeal to a diverse group of people, and be absorbed at their own pace.

As a speaker on the art histories, I find that my experiences with the same work of art changes. I view a painting I have seen many times before, it evokes the same emotions, with more depth, depending upon what is going on in the world and in my personal life at the time. Art is controversial in that its meaning can change at any time but the emotions seem to linger in our memories.

Historically, we have looked upon artists and their work with awe. They have "created". Being referred to as creative was once the highest complement because it intimated that you were godly. The artists’ painting and sculptures depicted the stories of the Bible and Greek myths which further elevated their sights, as well as ours of them. Later on, the artist suggested in their work, things for us to see, and left ares of their paintings unfinished giving the viewer credit to complete and participate in the work. Art became more intellectual.

Nothing can compare with the fact that these works of art are original, executed by and through the artist. The artist’s signature is usually right there for us to see. Unlike a concert where the music is conducted and interpreted by another artist with modern instruments, the visual arts are experienced as a communion with the actual artist. We attempt to get into the artist’s head, which in turn continues a response with the spectator.

It was the Impressionist painters of the 19th C. who brought art closer to the people by bringing the work out of the old, poorly lit studios and into the natural light. These artists believed a painting should respond to the constantly moving panorama of changing sky and flickering clouds and sun, viewed by the constantly moving eye of the forever changing spectator. These were not scenes frozen in time, but works that could change in a moment, depending on the way the spectator felt at the time. These paintings offered us an impression of the entire day; morning, afternoon, and evening coming together in one fleeting moment.

It is because art can tell us so much about ourselves and our modern day culture it is important to keep the art world accessible to everyone. Visiting and supporting the places that house these collections is paramount to the future existence of our culture. Developing more ways in which people with sensory disabilities can explore the art world is also imperative. It shouldn’t surprise us that visually impaired people will still come to a museum to experience a verbal explanation, and walk away with an understanding of their emotions on some level. For those who are unable to get to the actual artwork, a visit to a museum through the Internet under "art and entertainment" and chat rooms where people communicate on computer about a current exhibit. For the hearing impaired, it is also essential that artwork is documented on film.

Art is a universal subject, true to every culture, that can provide a meeting ground to enable us to appreciate and even welcome differences of time and place in a multicultural world.

Copyright, Talk Art, 1997

Art and Culture from the Margins:
How art from the edge reveals new directions.
On the trail of the new tourism possibilities for interpretation in the new millennium.
by Jami Taback

 Many years ago, when I began this work of showing people the arts and culture of New York City, I took a trip to the Middle East. A young barefoot boy in the road near his village stopped us and pulled me by the hand to show me, in an out of the way place, an old baptismal bath overgrown with shrub and weeds. He was very proud of this antiquity, this leftover from another time, knew of its existence, and most of all, that it would be something worth showing others. It was surely not on any travel map or guide book and I felt, like the boy, that it was a real treasure.

I don’t know what happened to that baptismal font, but I think about it and its safety from time to time. This memory is what motivates me to be one of the people to catalogue these finds, these fragile pieces of history and protect this information into the future.

I therefore see myself as the keeper of the gates of the preservation of the arts and cultural heritage of this great city.

People in general are very curious about what is around them; what they see in their daily walk through life. I find that people I meet in the streets of New York City are more interested in their surroundings than those who travel by other means. It comes as no surprise this street knowledge brings a source of pride and awareness in being a New Yorker, even if only a temporary resident.

All you’ve to do is walk the streets of this city to see that there is art everywhere. Look up at the buildings and down into the alleyways, nooks and crannies and you can see it all. These streets are the museums and galleries of the people. A sort of free gallery.

New York City is the center of the art world. It is the city that artists come, to express themselves freely. They come to experiment with different mediums and messages.

Why do they chose NYC as a forum for these new ideas? European conflict brought an end to any chance of an art community existing in Paris, which was then the undisputed center of the art world. When war breaks out, people leave, newspapers close down, there is no ballet, opera, theater and galleries close; there becomes little chance for an artist to create and make a living. Without these key players in the art world to participate together, there can be no art climate. All of the arts need to co-exist in the same milieu or the balance is off in the cultural aspect of looking at things.

Many young artists gathered their works and moved away from the threat of warfare and they chose NYC. They could have chosen anywhere. Chicago and California did develop schools of art although they never generated the same impact as artists from the New York School of Art.

Galleries began opening for the artists to exhibit. Newspapers had art critics ready to make or break anyone new on the scene. Out of these influences a uniquely American art world came to be established. Early American Folk Art of the American Indians and the Hudson River Painters came to the forefront of American Art. These earlier artists were recognized as the recorders of a beautiful country fast becoming inhabited and changed by its settlers. They were the first environmentalists of this country ready to catalogue and preserve images of its raw beauty.

Historically, art schools in great cities attract great artists to teach the young budding artists. This art world climate is what keeps them here in NYC. They pass on their legacy, and the inheritors reinterpret what they have learned and try to create their own original style with a twist on past approaches. This art is found on the margins of the art world.

Here, in NYC we can experience this marginal art right out on the streets. It appears in the form of graffiti, street music, murals, with mime and magic being performed right on the sidewalks by these so-called "pavement artists." While these artists work is not yet recognized by the mainstream art world such as the museums and galleries, they continue to practice using the streets as their stage and the city as their backdrop to perfect the work.

In recent years I have noticed that some of this work winds up inside the walls of the mainstream art world, due to mainstream acceptance. What happens is that even more on the edge work comes on the scene making that before it tamer, eventually some of these forms finding acceptance within traditional art and culture outlets, such as galleries and theater. Artists are constantly paving the way for new art as all art is ultimately a direct commentary on the human condition.

When the cycle of life is over, we do not remember or find evidence of much other than the art and culture of these older civilizations, where we learn everything else about mankind. Art is the most personal expression of one’s self. In order to have a complete city, I believe that we need representation of all arts out in the open - on the streets, for all to see.

Copyright, Talk Art, Inc.,1998